The Celts

They depict an Ireland divided into five major kingdoms with Connacht and Ulster at war, and the heroic Cú Chulainn defending the north against the forces of Queen Maeve. But the Táin, perhaps first written down in the monastery of Bangor, gives the victory to the north. In reality, the Ulster capital at Eamhain Macha, the Navan Fort, near Armagh, was finally overthrown by the Connacht dynasty - perhaps as late as the middle of the fifth century A.D. - and the rule of the Ulaidh was confined to territory east of the Bann. From there they founded a colony on Argyll, whose rulers were one day to become kings of Scotland.

The most powerful king of the Connacht ruling family, Niall of the Nine Hostages, famous for his raids on Britain in the early fifth century, annexed the ancient ritual site of Tara and was progenitor of the greatest dynastic family in Irish history, the Uí Néill or the descendants of Niall. This must be carefully distinguished from the later surname O'Neill, for the Uí Néill were much wider, and included also ruling families which later took the surnames O'Donnell, O'Hagan, O'Kane, O'Donnelly, Quinn and so on. The descendants of Niall set up a new provincial kingdom in north-west Ulster, into which they later incorporated the central part of the province.

Each provincial kingdom comprised a large number of petty kingdoms or tuatha, so that the whole country had ultimately between a hundred and a hundred and fifty of them with a few thousand people in each. Local wars were frequent but not prolonged. The unity of the country was cultural, social and legal rather than political.

It was into this Ireland of warrior princes and cattle-raids that St. Patrick brought the Christian faith in the mid-fifth century. I believe his choice of Armagh for his own special church can only be explained on the supposition that Eamhain Macha was still regarded as the capital of Ulster when he arrived. His missionary work was undoubtedly concentrated on the northern half of Ireland.

The Ireland where Patrick preached was thus a country with a long and venerable culture of its own. Like the wise foreign missionary of today he adopted a policy of what is now called 'inculcation'. The highly sophisticated designs which soon appear on the earliest stone crosses, manuscripts and metalwork were in the same tradition as those on the gold and bronze ornaments of pre-Christian Ireland.

Even the holy places and objects of pre-Christian Ireland - the sacred wells and stones and trees - were incorporated into the Christian tradition. The festival of Lugh at the end of July was baptised by the thousands who later honoured St. Patrick on the Reek. The pagan festival at the beginning of spring was replaced by St. Brigidís feast on 1 February. Even the heroes of the earlier tales were given a place in the Christian pantheon. For example King Conor Mac Nessa was made a contemporary of Christ and died in an attempt to defend him, and Oisin was brought back from Tír na n-Óg to be baptised by Patrick.

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From the Appletree Press title: The People of Ireland (currently out of print).
Also see A Little History of Ireland.